The power of connection on show at The Hearing House

We celebrated the enduring power of connection today as we welcomed two of our local MPs to The Hearing House, alongside two of the sons of our late founder, Sir Patrick Eisdell Moore (Sir Pat).

Simon Moore, Claire Green, Chris Moore, Hon Paul Goldsmith, Holly Teagle, Greg Fleming

Joining us for a tour of our purpose-built, fully equipped cochlear implant centre, was Hon Paul Goldsmith, List MP for Epsom and Minister for Justice (among other senior ministerial portfolios), and Greg Fleming, MP for Maungakiekie; along with Sir Pat’s sons, Chris and Simon Moore.

All have strong and deeply rooted connections to The Hearing House, making today’s gathering a celebration of shared history, purpose, and vision for the future of hearing health in New Zealand.

Sir Pat, a pioneering New Zealand ENT surgeon and trailblazer in cochlear implants and eardrum transplant surgery, was a visionary who saw the need for specialist hearing services and was pivotal in establishing both The Hearing House and the Deafness Research Foundation. His legacy continues through his sons.

Simon Moore, KC, leads the Hearing Research Foundation supporting the Eisdell Moore Centre at the University of Auckland; while Chris Moore is Chair of the Cochlear Implant Foundation of New Zealand — the trust responsible for the stewardship of The Hearing House.

Before he entered Parliament, Minister Goldsmith was a historian and biographer who published a biography on the Bidwell family, prominent early settlers and one of the founding families behind our base and clinic in Greenlane.

The Hearing House is based in the Stitchbury Bidwell Centre which opened seven years ago, thanks in part to the generous legacy of businessman Charles Bidwell who was a close friend of the late Phil Ryall, one of our early and consistently supportive benefactors.

It is now established as a recognised leader and connector in hearing health, catering for kiritaki of all ages, with an enduring mission to foster a community of support, empowering people who are hard of hearing, and their whānau, to explore potential and make informed choices on their journey.

Our local MP, Greg Fleming, has been a loyal, dedicated and energetic supporter of The Hearing House since his election. He is a great connector, and both he and Minister Goldsmith were guests at our inaugural Power of Connection event held at Parliament in June.

On show for our visitors today was the Hearing House van, the mobile hearing clinic launched last year as a tribute to our founder, Sir Pat, and his vision of transforming the healthcare needs of people by taking our services out into the community.

Both Sir Pat’s sons – Chris and Simon – echoed their father’s firmly held belief that outreach is a pivotal part of our service delivery, with the van allowing us to provide flexible, accessible services directly to the communities that need them most.

Over the past nine months, the mobile hearing clinic has helped us reach 150 kiritaki throughout the region, delivering more than 300 appointments in nearly 20 different locations. These include remote and rural areas such as Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Whangārei and Taupō, as well as the Ko Taku Reo unit at Ormiston School in South Auckland.

“It was an honour to be able to welcome such a distinguished group to The Hearing House today,” says Dr Claire Green, CEO of The Hearing House. “Each one of them has contributed to the various threads of our organisation in so many different, collaborative ways, and they all add tremendous value to the services, programmes and integrated care that we’re able to provide to all our kiritaki.

“Huge thanks to our founders, their families and our supporters for their amazing foresight and generosity. Without them, none of this would have been possible.”